I do not know you, so what I say may be of no value, but it's a starting point.

Perhaps you should begin TODAY by listening more and offering opinions, criticism, etc "more judiciously" than you have in the past – or even only when directly asked.

When appropriate, ask people questions about themselves or their loved ones or their work, BUT, you must be genuinely interested in their answers! Do NOT give opinions unless asked and try to foster relaxed conversations as opposed to what may be viewed as long winded gossiping or snooping! If you learn something to be concerned about during the talk, offer sympathy more through facial expression, or with body language, i.e. nonverbally, rather than verbally.

Also, smile more. It is hard for someone to not respond to a really heart felt smile.

Just my two cents:)

MY NAME IS FARAH,I HAVE A MASTERS DEGREE IN HEALTHCARE MENEGEMNET. I AM VERY PASSIONATE WORKER ,VERY BRILLIANT AND VERY ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT MY SKILLS. HOWEVERE MY BIGGEST WEAKNESS IS I DONT KNOW HOW TO BE POPULAR AND MAKE FRIENDS. I CAME WITH HIGH AMBITIONS IN MY WORK PLACE AND DID SOME AMAZING WORK ALSO. BUT MY LACK OF SOCIAL SKILLS HAVE TAKEN ME TO A POSITION WHERE MY BOSS IS NOT HAPPY WITH ME AND HE HAS TAKEN ALL POWERS TO DO ANY WORK FROM ME AND I HAVE BECOME A VICTOM OF OFFICE POLITCS. SOMEONE REPORTED TO OWNER THAT I AM BADMOUTHING ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION AND MY EXPLIANATION WAS BEING CALLED.(WHICH OFCOURSE I HAVE NEVER DONE) . I KNOW AOUT MY COMPETENCY AT WORK AND WEAKNESS AT MAKING FRIENDS BUT I DONT KNOW HOE TO BE BE LIKABLE…..ANY READER OR AUTHOR IF YOU CAN HELP ME PLEASE PLEASE POST A REPLY THAT HOW CAN I GET OUT OF THIS MESS…….

1. Good rule-of-thumb advice from insiders during the general session, backed-up by good take-aways.

2. Reassurance, encouragement, and a little friendly advice in response to specific questions.

And that's really about it. People feel extremely vulnerable asking questions in front of a small group, let alone a packed audience. No one wants to be shot down in the public eye. Your goal is to have the audience appreciate what you've said, rather than be upset about how you've said it–so, yeah, changing your short and direct style might be good. Your message can be the same, just delivered with a little more empathy.

Not everyone is as tough as me!

Cheers–

Excellent article!

I think your advice is good. It’s true to how a workplace should cater to the ‘workers’ – and those ladies who commented that, “if I followed her advice I’d be collecting unemployment”, just might be working in the wrong atmosphere.

But you remind me of my older brother, and I feel this being the younger, you’re a little bit patronizing. Maybe you’ve had the luck to be able to take your own advice, which is comforting, but not all people are that lucky – and some have to adhere to certain crappy ways in a crappy workplace to keep a job and feed the mouths at home. Right? I like your advice cause it’s stuff that I can relate to and follow. I’m writing and reading your work at my work, and I could put my shoes on if I wanted to and step out for 30 mins if I really wanted to also. When I tell people that, they just think I’m a douche who’s going to get fired soon.

In the end: good work and keep being yourself cause I know you will be. Soon I’ll be linking my name here to a blog of my own. I’m just starting some work, and trying to hone in on a real, consistent and interesting overall topic and theme for the blog.

CYA!!

I was one of the women who you were unimpressed with in regard to branding in the Blogher session. "Art, soul, stories?" you said, picking up my tag line from my introduction. "I don't know what you're selling." I sat down regretting I had asked a question in hopes of steering the conversation to general principles instead of one-on-one speed consulting in front of a group.

The rest of the weekend I found out how right you were. While very few people I spoke to seemed aware of my book "Beginnings" on Etsy or my cards, I spent the rest of the conference meeting women who were very aware of me, my personal message and my blog. I learned that while my branding around the things I sell is still weak, the branding of myself as "Jen Lemen" was very strong. Women I'd never met wanted me to know they understood my point in your session, and that in my case most specifically *because of what I stand for online* you'd crossed the line.

The whole experience was really valuable to me. While it smarted to be taken to task in front of a group, I'm very glad now for the opportunity to see where I'm strong and where my work remains. If you hadn't addressed so strongly how weak my brand is in one respect, I might not have found out how strong it is in another.